Want to clear your browser’s history from the beginning of time? Here’s how

When it comes to browser history and privacy, most people would rather peruse the Web incognito than use a platform that tracks their every move. However, your browser cache can be helpful as well as harmful, temporarily storing website components such as images, scripts, and other page snapshots for quicker viewing whenever you revisit the same site down the line.

It’s a convenient way of reducing bandwidth and perceived lag, along with load times, but it’s also a computing mechanism that can leave you in the stone age in terms of up-to-date viewing. Therefore, nearly every browser features quick-hit tools for clearing the cache — if you can find them, that is.

Doing so may not be completely necessary, nor need to be done often. However, there are several reasons clearing your browser’s cache can prove fruitful. First off, purging the stored data in your cache automatically forces your browser to seek and retrieve the most recent webpage elements instead of recycling the same old components, whether they’re up-to-date with the developer’s standards or not.

Furthermore, resetting your cache will potentially help in the event of 404, 502, and other errors that may potentially result from a corrupt cache, and clear any private data you have stored in the form of login IDs, passwords, and other sensitive information you’d rather not store on your machine. It’s also a simple trick you can employ to shed any unnecessary data, which could slow down your browser. That said, below is our guide to doing so, no matter which browser you use.

Google Chrome

Step 1: Open the settings — Launch Google Chrome, click the Chrome menu icon represented by three horizontal bars in the upper-right corner of the browser window, and click Settings near the bottom of the resulting drop-down menu.

Afterward, click the blue Show advanced settings option at the bottom of the page.

This should allow you to see Privacy settings. Click the button that says Clear browsing data…

Step 2: Clear the browser cache — Check the box directly left of the Empty the cache option near the middle of the new pop-up window, along with any other browser data you wish to clear, and select thebeginning of time option from the drop-down menu indicating how far back you wish to clear your cache. Afterward, click the gray Clear browsing data button in the bottom-right corner and allow the cache to clear.